It's Not Over
by Sokorra Lewis
Summary: Ever since that well known event in 1981, Athena Malfoy has been living in a remote town in the U.S. waiting for Dumbledore to call her back and protecting a secret that will effect Harry. A secret that Dumbeldore has kept from him and the Order.
1. God Only Knows

Author Notes: This story is going to go back and forth between the Marauder period and Harry's sixth year (and the summer before). This is very AU from the series simply because James & Lily are alive, although it does not go against anything stated in books 1-4 and only disagrees with a little of OotP. If I have any major plot mistakes (canon making what I say false in the first 4 books) let me know and I will change it if I can.

Chapters and Story are Song titles. The story is "It's Not Over" by Daughtry and this chapter is the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows".

* * *

Chapter One: "God Only Knows.."

"Athena?"

Lily Evans-Potter watched silently for a few minutes as her friend continued to stare out the bay window over looking the backyard of their home. The blonde women clutched a piece of parchment in her hand tightly, in fact Lily thought it was going to rip if she continued to hold it like that. Athena did not respond to her calling. Whatever was on the parchment had her upset.

She walked over to her and took the piece out of her hand with little struggle. Before she opened the letter, she glanced up to see Athena crying silently, her blue-grey eyes looking stormy and red trails down her checks that looked all too white at the moment. She opened the parchment up and realized why right away.

_Thea,_

_The Order is reassembling. Voldemort has risen again and Dumbledore needs as much of the old order he can get. Don't worry, Harry's fine for now. Please come soon. We are meeting at Padfoot's family house. Dumbledore suggests bringing Zara along as well if she wishes to come. He's heard about her school scores and thinks she'll be an asset to the order if she decides to join._

_Remus_

Lily sighed and sat down on the window seat. Her son was in danger. She couldn't remember holding this baby boy of hers, couldn't remember what he looked like or how she felt about him, but she knew he existed. She was still trying desperately to regain her life back. Fifteen years of post-kadavra therapy and she could only remember anything up to her graduation day. She remember getting together with James (although not till recently, even if she had gotten involved with him on her own again) and the life they were leading at the time, but she still was missing three years of her life. There was still hope that it would come back. Her memories were returning with greater frequency in the last couple of years, same for James.

But she did remember Voldemort. She remembered fighting him. She remembered refusing to stand aside. She just didn't remember when that happened or what she was protecting so hard. It was just so frustrating.

"He's back."

"Yes," Athena said in a whisper as she too sat down on the window seat. "But are we ready?"

"Can we ever be truly ready?"

"True enough. Do you feel up to going to London?" Lily thought for a moment. Going back to London would mean facing her past, her friends and everything she wasn't sure she knew yet. However, her son was in danger. She might not remember having him, but that didn't mean there wasn't a little bit of maternal instinct in her that said she had to go to him.

"Yes. We may not have the memories of those last three years, but James and I have remembered everything we could about protect ourselves. Now we need to protect our son." Their son. Why was that so hard to think of? They were taking it slowly this time, and it was still hard to think of them happily married with a child. Athena didn't have many recent photos of Harry since she was only in regular contact with Dumbledore. Up until reading the note from Remus, They had been certain Dumbledore was the only person that knew of their location. He must have told Remus.

"Dumbledore approached me about this earlier in the year," Athena admitted sitting beside Lily. I knew we weren't ready then. He must have thought Remus would have a better chance now." She sighed. "And he would be right. I'm surer now that you're not going to relapse again. You're almost done with anything I can do."

Lily and Athena had come up with a charm-potion combination that gave the Kadavra spell less efficiency. Every one of the Marauders had taken it according to Athena except for Peter. Luckily for them, it worked. James and Lily hadn't completely died. Sure, they would have if Dumbledore and Athena hadn't gotten to them as soon as they had and began rehabilitation. The only problem is that they had never expected that amnesia would be a side effect. When she had awoken from her coma she had only remembered up to her getting the owl for Hogwarts. James had remembered even less, and although he acted his age, he really only was a five year old boy in a twenty-two old body. There had been one or two relapses in the early years, but nothing for the last five years. They were ready. There was nothing Athena could work on anymore. The rest was up to their minds to recover.

"Are you going to take Zara and Jamie?" Athena didn't answer for awhile. Elizara and Sirius James were her two children. Lily was technically their godmother, but she felt almost as close to Zara as if it was a girl her own age. Zara had been very helpful to them. Her relationship with Jaime was that of an older sister.

Both of them were very good looking, taking almost all their features from their father. Jamie could have been a carbon copy of his father except for his personality. Zara took after their father there while Jaime was more like their mother.

"Zara would come I think, but I'm not sure if Jamie would want to leave his school and go to Hogwarts. All of his friends are here, and he's on the quidditch team. And he's got his OWLS coming up. It wouldn't be fair to uproot him, but I'll ask him."

"He doesn't have OWLS till next year. He'll have plenty of time to study and he's ahead of his classes anyway. _It's Hogwarts!_ Athena laughed.

"I guess your right, but I'll leave it up to him." She stood up. "I'll go owl him and tell Zara. Do you want to tell James?"

"Sure."

* * *

Elizara Black sipped her milkshake while smiling at her companion. Nicholas Gravins, a fellow classmate of hers that she had been seeing the past couple of years. They had both excelled in potions and were studying at a local university in chemistry to better understand muggle concoctions as well. Right now they were discussing their teacher's habit of miss pronouncing their names. However just as Zara was about to respond to Nick's latest comment, an owl appeared at their table. Nick fed it a piece of his chicken sandwich while she retrieved the note

_Hey,_

_I have to go to England to see Dumbeldore. Do you want to come with me, or stay here? We need to leave tonight because it was urgent that we see him. Voldemort has returned and he's recalling the order._

_-Mom._

Zara re-read it.

"What's wrong, Zar?" Nick asked, seeing her pale.

"He's back." She handed him the note. He read it quickly and handed it back.

"You should go. You already took the semester off to deal with stuff."

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'd be any help at this point. I'm good at potions and maybe a few well placed hexes. But I'm far from spectacular."

"You pulled the most magic-related pranks by someone not to get caught. Your better then you think. And I'll go with you."

"But you have class."

"All computer this semester remember. And besides, I have family in England, my Father. I haven't seen him since I was thirteen. It would be nice to see him again. And my sister would not mind making the trip either, I'm sure. Probably demand to go."

"All right." Sighing, she took a piece of notebook paper out of her purse and wrote her mom a response before burning her mothers note. There was no reason to leave someone a clue as to where they were going. Especially not when it involved Voldemort who had minions even here in western Pennsylvania.

* * *

Remus received an owl just about dinner time, with Sirius setting across from him, and Tonk's beside him. They both looked at him while he read Athena's note. He wasn't sure what to tell them. Tonk's response was not in question, she'd be happy that her cousins were coming. Sirius on the other hand he had no idea how he'd react to the news that his girlfriend, and his two children plus several guests were arriving tomorrow by plane.

"Who's the Owl from, Remus," Molly Weasley asked as she brought in the final parts of the meal. Tonight it was just the four of them, everyone else was on duty or otherwise occupied.

"Athena," he admitted reluctantly. He didn't need to say her last name, all four occupants of the room knew who he was speaking of.

"Wonderful girl," Molly commented. "Is she coming? I know she was part of the old order but Dumbledore sent her on something important I image, to have her all the way over there. I'm sure the twins would be happy to see Zara again."

"She hasn't said anything about that, but she is coming, bringing along five others. I'm sure Zara is one of them."

"Zara?" Tonk's asked. "I haven't seen her in ages." Sirius was very quiet at the moment and Remus continued to watch him, but he seemed to be ignoring the conversation all together.

"Zara, and Jamie." That got Sirius to look up. So he wasn't ignoring it as much as it appeared. "Plus Zara's fiancee Nicholas and his sister Natalie and two other guests she says she'll explain when she gets here tomorrow although we should be prepared for quite a shock. Someone has to meet her at Heathrow tomorrow morning. She's flying out of Pittsburgh tonight."

"Why doesn't the girl use a portkey station? With Aurora right there, I'm sure there is one," Molly commented. "Much faster."

"She doesn't say. Perhaps it has something to do with her guests." Molly murmured an agreement and they ate in companionable silence for awhile.

"Athena hates planes," Sirius said after awhile. "Remember how she complained about them after coming back from Christmas holiday." Remus smiled.

"Yes, she had gone with Lily to Barbados or something like that and said she'd much prefer lower altitudes thank you very much. With her fear of heights I'm surprised she made it to be Slytherin's seeker."

"I think it was more she could control the broom she was on, but not other things that brought her up that high."

"How did you get her to ride with you on your motorcycle then?" Tonks asked.

"Double dared her," Sirius said with a smile. "She could never resist a dare.

"Either that or she just couldn't resist you giving her a dare," Remus said laughing. "You two always knew how to push the other around."

"How you guys meet her? I've heard stories, but nothing for either of you."

"James and Sirius knew her for years before I ever did," Remus answered, knowing Sirius wouldn't. "Athena's parents would hold parties every year and invite the pureblood families of consequence. From what I've heard from James and Sirius they met her when she was seven and gave them quite a scare with one of her visions. I didn't meet her till first year, when James introduced us. If she hadn't been in another house, I'm sure she would have made an excellent Marauder."

* * *

_January 1976_

Athena walked through the station, a book in hand. She had traveled this same route for the past six years so she didn't need to watch where she was going more then to make sure she wasn't running into anyone. However at this time the bulk of the students hadn't arrived yet, leaving the platform relatively empty.

"Thea!" Sighing she paused and waited for James to catch up with her. She knew full well that Sirius and Remus were no doubt with him. Lily was probably already on the train, having an unnecessary urge to be extra early all the time and couldn't save her from the onslaught that was the Marauder trio.

"James." James and Sirius came to walk beside her, each taking a side and pulling her into a hug. She gave a look to Remus who stood a few feet a head of them now. He just grinned and shook his head. No help coming from him.

"So what are you reading today, Ms. Malfoy?" Sirius said as he grabbed her book. "Do we have lusting sultans today or ravishing pirates?" She tried to grab it back but being a good few inches taller then her he managed to keep it out of reach. Sighing, she gave up and let him tease her about her slight addiction to muggle romance novels. This one in particular she wished he wouldn't see because it involved a family who had magic following through them. It got the whole thing wrong of course, but that wasn't why she read them.

"One Magical Night." He raised an eyebrow with a smirk. James would have laughed as well, but he had already gone to find Lily and Remus had left to get some good seats. So it was just him and her, standing by the train as he made fun of her reading tastes. "Evangeline wanted nothing to do with Ja…wait a second. There is a James. Is this saying something about your tastes? I have to tell you I doubt you can get Lily off him at this point."

"Oh, shut up. And no, I don't like James anymore then I like Severus." Sirius' eyes grew a little colder at the mention of her friend. He had never understood how she could be friends with both of them (and she'd never would tell him that Severus didn't understand either.). "My interests lay elsewhere. And it's just a name in a book. May I have it back?" He handed it back to her and changed the subject.

"How do you feel like joining me for a prank?"

"Depends on when, who and what."

"Your trust in me is astounding." She raised an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes. "It's not Snivelius."

"Severus."

"Fine, it's not _Severus_." Sirius looked like he had tasted something awful by saying his first name. And only Athena could have made him do it. "It's on my brother. It's a pretty easy prank but it requires two people. James is too busy with Lily, Remus will be doing prefect duties and frankly if I allow Peter to do anything he'd end up hitting the wrong person and we'd be caught."

"So nice to know that I'm your last choice."

"You don't like our pranks."

"Correction. I don't like _your_ pranks. Remus and James usually stay for harmless, occasionally humiliating but you tend to cross the line into harmful and in one particular case it could have been deadly. Luckily James had his head on straight."

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

"Not until I'm sure you've grown up enough not to do stupid stuff like that. What's the prank? Your brother deserves it for trying to flirt with me at the party." Sirius frowned at this.

"I thought you went with Lily on vacation."

"I did. Was great, but don't get me started on those flying devices Muggles have." She shuddered. "I still was home for the New Year's party. Prank?"

"Right, here's the plan."

* * *

"Regulus!" Athena walked up to the boy with a warm smile. When he looked up at her he smiled. He really was an attractive boy, but she wasn't interested in him. Unfortunately he believed that with his older brother no longer her fiancée he had a chance.

"Athena."

"I wanted to apologize for hexing you at the party. I'd just spent a couple weeks with muggles and was irritable."

"That's understandable; muggles have a way of doing that. Apology accepted."

"Thank you. And to show my regret in treating you that way, I bought you a snack." She handed him a pumpkin pastry and a couple cauldron cakes.

"Thanks." He looked at her strangely, but accepted the gift anyway. "Do you want to sit with me on the train? We'll be leaving soon."

"Sorry, I already promised some friends of mine I'd sit with them. But thanks for the offer." She kissed him on the check and walked away until she reached the compartment where Sirius was sitting. He grabbed her and pulled her in and the two opened the door so they could watch Regulus after he ate the snacks. Luckily he just leaned up against the wall and started to nibble. Athena let out a giggle when he started to turn orange after eating the pumpkin pastry. Sirius hushed her and leaned further in to look out at him. When he started on the cauldron cakes, smoke of a rainbow of colors started to pour out of his ears. Sirius pulled her back further into the room when they both started to laugh at his obliviousness. Unfortunately he misjudged the room and tripped bringing her down on top of him when he fell on the one bench.

This made her laugh harder and she turned to look at him but her laughter died out as she watched him. She suddenly came very aware of how close they were. And it wasn't the kind of awareness that was usually reserved for friends, but something of a different nature. Like she wanted him that close. She moved slowly as not to hurt him so he could sit up and she could look him directly in the eye. While there was part of her surprised, there was another part of her that welcomed it when he finally leaned down and kissed her, pulling her back in close to her.

A few seconds later there was a lurch as the train begain it's movement and the sound of their friends coming back to the compartment. The two separated and sat on either side of the room. Athena waited for the others to completely enter before she left, claiming she needed to use the restroom. Lily decided to go with her and left the four boys alone in the room.

James was the first to notice Sirius's strange introspective look and sat down next to him.

"What's wrong." he said lowly, so the others wouldn't hear.

"Ever have one of those days when even though you already knew something, it comes back and you really realize it?"

"Um..sure."

"This has been one of those days."

"And what have you realized that you already knew."

"Athena's a girl."

"Ah." James said nothing more, understanding what Sirius was going through. Although he did find it funny when both of them acted exactly the same for the rest of the year. Like nothing had happened. Athena dated a Ravenclaw named Theodore and Sirius dated off and on with various girls. But when it came down to it, they still acted like they were just friends. And James watched for the secret looks or hidden hints that perhaps they felt differently, but he found none beyond that moment on the train.

* * *

"Mom, they just announced our flight." Jamie finally reached Athena who seemed a little out of it. "You ok?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Just remembering something." He gave her a look, as if he expected more, but she just smiled. "You wouldn't be interested. It involved me kissing your father."

"Ah," he responded making the usual facial expression. He picked up some of their carry-on laugage and walked onto the ramp with her. James, Lily, Zara and Nick had already gone through and were on their way onto the plane. "Are we going to see him?"

"Your father, probably not. He's in prison remember."

"Yeah." He decided not to tell her he had read the newspaper when Sirius had escaped prison. Apparently, Athena hadn't. "I remember." He watched as Athena handed the receiver her ticket and walked with her onto the plane.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate these things?".


	2. Better Then Me

A/n: I want to thank everyone who has been reading this story:) I'm posting a companion story that is focused more on Zara called "A Sorta Fairy Tale" and it may fill in some of the missing parts of from this fic and vice versa.

* * *

Chapter 2: Better Then Me

Athena was angry. At herself, at Sirius, at her brother and his friends, she was even mad at Dumbledore. She was pretty much mad at everyone. Picking up the materials she needed for the restorative potion Sirius would need when he awoke she took it to the table in his room and begin to mix it while watching him sleep on the bed in case any symptoms of Bella's curse got worse.

Today had been a bad day from start to finish. First she had ridden on a plane and she hated those things. Would have preferred the portkey but knew that James and Lily still got sick from them. They could barely apparate short distances at the moment or to places they knew well in their head like the house or Jamie's school. Then she had arrived at Heathrow to be greeted by Fred and George Weasley and then the whole fiasco at the Ministry happened.

What was Sirius thinking, going there? If Jamie hadn't spotted him falling and sent a quick Leviosa towards him he would have gone through that veil and died. At least that was the assumption about it. No one had come back to say otherwise and frankly she'd rather not try to find out. Stupid idiot. Both of them. Jamie shouldn't have followed her. He should have gone with his sister and Natalie with James and Lily to the house. But no, her son had to inherit his father's Gryffindoric bravery. Bravery was all good and all, but not when it got you killed and you didn't think of ways to get around having to put yourself in such a situation where you would have to be brave. That's were Slytherin and Gryffindor were different. Slytherins could be brave, they just usually figured out a way to avoid having to be.

Jamie and Sirius both were still alive and Jamie was still healthy as ever, managing to stay away from being cursed himself. Sirius would be better after a long sleep and a couple days of taking the restorative potion. Luckily the curse Bella sent was a small and almost harmless one. Sirius was lucky the Bella was off her game because had Bella been fully there she'd have sent something a lot harder towards him. As it was the curse had racked havoc on his body, causing it to spasm for awhile.

Dumbledore made her angry because he had told no one. She had thought this whole time that everyone knew that James and Lily were alive and recuperating, at least those in the order like Remus and Sirius. But no. Remus had spent the last 15 years believing two of his friends were dead, Another dead for 13 years but now known to be the real betrayer and yet another one in prison who was innocent but made to wear the responsibilities of the crime anyway. He had no idea where she had gone, only able to contact her through Molly Weasley or Dumbledore who were the only ones who knew her exact location. Even Molly hadn't known about James and Lily though. She didn't understand Dumbledore's reasoning. These people could have helped.

She was angry with herself for not coming back sooner, for not paying attention. She could have seen what was happening and done something about it. But no, she had to block it out. Woe was her and all that. Sure, she had been left to raise her children alone as well as try and revive her friends, but she hadn't been the only one to loose a lot. The way she had treated Remus was atrocious. She could have told him where she went. She could have told him James and Lily were alive.

There. The potion was complete. For the next few minutes she tried to release her anger and watched Sirius as he breathed. There was a part of her that was still in shock almost expecting to wake up and find out he had died.

"Mom?" Athena looked up and saw her son standing in the doorway. "I think you need to help Aunt Lily and Uncle James explain things. I'll watch over Dad for you." She sighed.

"He should be out of danger now, but come get me if anything changes." She got up and walked to the door.

"Sure." He walked into the room and sat down in the chair she had previously occupied and smiled back at her, holding up his gameboy to show he had something to do. "I'll get you should anything happen." She smiled back at him, and walked downstairs.

This was going to take awhile.

* * *

June 1976

Athena Marie Malfoy was drunk. There was no question of it. But she was still well aware of her surroundings so she wasn't as drunk as she could have been, she supposed. But very much past simply tipsy.

It was their last day of classes, at least for her year. While everyone else worked on their final classes and final exams, the seventh years were collecting their things, saying goodbye to a place that held seven years of memories and nervously awaiting their NEWT results. They had a week of that. At the end of the week, they'd know if they were going to be doing their dream job or trying to find something a little different.

So she had felt like getting drunk since she had no classes and had just had a particularly horrible week. Sirius had agreed and had even obtained the alcohol. Remus had declined to join them, and James and Lily were in their happy bubbly zone of pre-marital bliss so tonight it was just her and Sirius. She didn't even think of asking Severus to join them. They'd kill each other in a second and ruin her robes with blood. She'd celebrate with Severus some other day.

"Where's Peter?" Sirius shrugged, trying to open another bottle. Three already lay on the floor. He was only slightly less drunk then her. The stuff he had managed to get was a lot weaker then the general stuff so they had to drink more.

"Don't know, and really don't care at the moment. I think he's out with his girlfriend or something."

"That's nice. Peter having a girlfriend. No one deserves to be lonely."

"Your not alone, love."

"Romantically I am. The bastard broke up with me remember. I'm now officially the only one of us single."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"You never do, but you always have companionship don't you. You don't count."

"Harsh."

"Truth."

"Snape has someone?"

"He's got a girl whom I've never met but apparently likes to embarrass him by sending him love notes. And before you ask, I know she's real because not even dear Severus would go as low as writing these notes. I've read them. They are defiantly a girl's note and they are really cheesy." She sighed. "Besides, even if he was available, it is wrong for me to date Severus. We just don't have what it takes to be married to each other."

"Again, there is me."

"Siri, I don't think we'd do well together. You have too much of a temper and I'm too stubborn to compromise. You're a Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin."

"Your blonde, I'm a brunette. It really doesn't matter."

"It doesn't? I've never seen you date a Slytherin once."

"Who said anything about dating?" She hit him playing in the shoulder, hitting a little harder then intended since she wasn't in complete control anymore. "All right, All right. That hurt, evil wench."

"Oh, it wasn't that hard."

"You'd be surprised." He rested his head against the wall. They had been sitting in the boys dormitory since no one else was in there. Peter was somewhere else; Remus was doing some extra patrolling tonight and would probably grab a nap at James and Lily's common room where those two were already.

"My brother wants me to marry Zabini."

"What? They are arranging for you again?"

"Yep. Because you know that's all I'm good for right? Marrying someone to increase the family's standing, to increase their connections." She was crying now. Her brother, the one who had so loved her had turned cold these past couple of years and it scared her. He would never have agreed to a second arranged marriage now that he was head of the family if he was his old self. "And apparently Zabini thinks I will give him quite a healthy heir. How's that for you. I'm being sold to the highest bidder who wants me on account of my having a uterus."

"Your brother is an ass, and Zabini has to have liked you for more then just that you're female. Which by the way, you're a fine specimen of, if I may so myself. But Lucius knows you'd never be happy in a relationship like that. There has to be more to it."

"Sirius, after all those years dealing with your family how could you be so bloody optimistic about mine?"

"Just trying to make things not look so grim." Things were silent for awhile, each taking a turn at the whisky bottle. She looked at him while he took a drink. He was leaned against the way next to his bed; shirt untucked and his tie hanging loosely on his shoulders. His hair was in need of a good trim, reaching his shoulders in the back and lightly falling to his eyes on the top. Athena had always found him attractive, but for some reason, perhaps the alcohol, she thought he looked especially good tonight.

"I think I'm going to take you up on your offer?" Sirius turned and looked at her in confusion. "Your offer of a one-night-stand."

"Why for?"

"It will ruin me. I'll be a ruined girl, no longer sale-worthy," she said with a bitter laugh that made Sirius wonder if she was just a bit insane. Perhaps she _had_ had one too many.

"You're drunk."

"So are you. If you want, I'll write myself a note saying I gave you permission." She sat up and moved over so she was closer to him. He was paused before another drink, still in shock that she had taken the joke they had started when they had been 'engaged' so seriously this time. She was sitting right in front of him now, only a few inches between them. The thought was tempting but this was one of his best friends even if she was formerly his fiancée.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to 'ruin you', which by the way is a really bad way to phrase what you want me to do, in order to keep Zabini away. And how exactly are you going to make your brother believe we slept together?"

She smiled a smile that defiantly proved she was a Slytherin and held up necklace with a black pendent. She had always worn since she was sent to Hogwarts. He took it in his hands and looked at it waiting for her to explain.

"Dad made me wear it. It was to discourage me from being mischievous or slutty I suppose. Worked until my fifth year as an actual scare tactic but afterwards I hadn't met a guy I felt comfortable enough with to go further then a few kisses. It turns white and the tie releases it so it comes off when it detects the hormones, I guess. I'm not entirely sure how it works, to tell the truth, only that my mother had it during her engagement to my father. Apparently it's a Malfoy custom.

"Narcissa wore it?"

"Probably, although not this exact necklace. So, do you want to help me rebel or not?" Sirius was torn. There was a part of him that was a gentleman which was screaming this was WRONG on so many levels, but the whiskey was muffling that voice. There was another voice, the one that had been attracted to Athena for awhile that said to go for it, and worry about tomorrow when it comes.

The second voice won.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers, remembering their first real kiss from six months ago, which had been a random moment and how good that felt. This one felt even better. It lasted longer and was intentional. They both wanted it, not because of an impulse but because they just did.

"Write that note," he said when they stopped for a breath. "I don't want you to kill me in the morning." She grinned wickedly, picked up her wand from where she had left it on the floor and transfigured the empty bottle into a piece of paper. He laughed when it kept the relative shape of a bottle. Friends don't let friends transfigure drunk. She glared at him and quickly wrote a note.

_Don't kill him. You asked for it – AMM._

"Interesting choice of words, love".

"Oh, shut up." She moved back over towards him and they fell back on his bed with another kiss.

* * *

_He could hear a voice call out but he couldn't tell what they said; only that the endless fall seemed to stop and as blackness consumed him, he noticed he was being lowered to the floor in front of the veil._

He woke up in a panic. It took him a minute but he realized he was back in his old room, alone except for one other person who was watching him over some kind of contraption.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." American, whoever this kid was, although his voice was slightly accented as if he had been in England for awhile and had picked up some of the accent.

"Who are you?"

"James, although most call me Jamie. I suppose I should get my mother now, she said to come get her when you awoke or your status changed. Here, drink this." The boy (he couldn't have been more then seventeen) handed him a glass with a grey looking liquid in it. Sirius took the glass and looked at it wearily. "Don't worry, it's a restorative potion. My mom's personalized recipe. Worked wonders on me when I got hit by a bludger last year."

Ah, so he was in Hogwarts. Must be one of Harry's friends from school, then. But he was pretty sure Neville, Hermione and Luna had no siblings and Molly Weasley was not a medi-witch no matter how many remedies she knew from raising six boys and one tomboy.

Looking at the boy, he searched for any familiar features. He looked very familiar to him. He had grey eyes, a little lighter then his own, almost Malfoy-ish in color. He would have passed for a Black any day with his longish black hair and those cheekbones. But his nose was slightly too straight to be a Blacks. Again more like…

Athena.

"Your Athena's son." He took the drink then. Athena might be pissed as hell at him but she wouldn't kill him no matter how much of a Slytherin she could be some times.

"Yep. Yours too actually in case you haven't figured it out," Jaime stated as if he was slighted annoyed that his 'father' hadn't picked up on the fact. Sirius paused and glanced up at the boy again.

"I only had a daughter."

"Zara. Yeah, you were kinda in prison when I came along. Although I was kinda hoping I didn't have to meet you in the middle of a battle with one of our cousins but such is life." If he was telling the truth he had to be a lot younger then he looked. Obviously tall for his age, almost as tall as Sirius would be if he was standing. He supposed there was a possibility. It was obvious the child wasn't Severus Snape's (thank god) and there was no way it could be Regulus since Reg died when Zara had been almost 2.

"How old are you?"

"I'll be 15 this December. Perhaps Mom should really fill you in on this. I should warn you though, she's pretty mad at the moment. Apparently no one was told about Aunt Lily and Uncle James being alive so…" In an instant Sirius mind caught onto that and forgot that the boy was claiming to be his son.

"James and Lily are alive." He tried to get out of the bed but James easily pushed him back in.

"Yes, but you aren't anywhere near strong enough to go see them. Bellatrix; at least that is what Mom says her name was; she hit you with a pretty huffy hex, or a light curse. I don't remember much of the specifics but I think it was a curse. They'll come up here." The kid smiled at him, and Sirius knew he was telling the truth about the whole situation. The kid looked almost exactly like he did when he was that age, with the exception of the eyes and nose. But he'd have Athena confirm it anyway. It seemed kinda odd that they would have another child together he never even had a hint about. The past two years he thought Jamie was someone else's, with Snape being a forerunner. She had been overly fond of that git back in their school days. Almost married him as well.

"Jamie, Molly has dinner ready." Both of them looked at the door as Athena walked in. "It's your favorite too..." her voice faded off as she saw Sirius watching her from behind her son. " I see you're awake." She didn't want to confront him. Not right now.

"Yes." His voice was a little grittier then she remembered but it still had that ability to call to her. Damn it if she wasn't a little bit still in love with the bastard. "James has just told me…"

"Jamie" both Athena and Jamie corrected at the same time.

"Jamie tells me that Lily and James are still alive."

"Yes, Apparently Dumbledore felt it necessary to keep to the bare minimum when it came to telling about them," Athena answered, her tone showing how greatly annoyed she was with the whole situation. "I've told him what I thought about it. Jaime, why don't you go down and eat. Your sister's been asking about you." Jamie nodded walked out the door leaving his parents alone in the room.

"You never told me you were pregnant." Sirius said as soon as he heard his son's footsteps on the stairs.

"You were never around long enough to say anything," she retorted. "I tried telling you for a bloody month that I was pregnant. It's kind of funny, it was your idea to have another kid, and when I finally manage to get pregnant again you were never around." She sat at the end of the bed and swung around to face him.

"It wasn't my decision to go to Azkaban."

"I'm not talking about that Sirius. Those last couple months before Peter betrayed us you were hardly around. Most of the time I was ok with it, I understood that we were in dangerous times and you were an Auror but even when you had any decent amount of time off, you tended to spend it over with James and Lily. I think the only reason you came home at all was to see Zara. And don't get me started on that night you left me crying my eyes out in pain with only our four year old daughter to help me through a vision because you heard the words James and Lily and out the door you went. So don't yell at me for not telling you I was pregnant. You never gave me the chance and there was no way I was taking a child into Azkaban, regardless of whether they were in me or not."

"You never said anything." His voice was low and she could tell he was just as angry at her as she was at him. And she understood. Relationships went two ways after all. "You never said you were unhappy with my hours or how much time I spent with my best friend."

"Spending time with your best friend wasn't a problem, Sirius. You just never spent anytime with us as well."

"Is he really mine?" Athena's eyes flashed at the accusation. Part of her knew he was just lashing out at her in anyway he could, but it still hurt that he would even consider for a second that she was unfaithful to him.

"Oh, don't you dare start that again. We went through this with Zara; I'm not going through this with Jaime. I wouldn't have named him after you if you weren't his father." She paused. "His full name is Sirius James Black, and he was born December 31, 1981 if that answers your question."

"Well, I'm sorry but it seems kind of circumstantial that you got pregnant just as I'm no longer around."

"Oh, yes because I so choose to be a single mother. You think that whole situation wasn't stressful on me? I was four months pregnant when you were locked up Sirius, _four months_. Your son was born two months later, almost three months early and almost died. I'm not lying to you, and neither is he."

"He almost died?" Athena was spent after that question. She didn't like to talk about the couple months after Jamie was born. They had been hell, with her son and her two closest friends in bad health and her best friend and the love of her life (yes, she admitted it now, thank you very much. It had just taken ten years) was gone for what looked to be forever. She made her way up the bed to sit next to him, leaning up against the headboard, and he turned on his side so that he could see her face.

"Yeah, he was three months too early and his lungs hadn't developed all the way. But apparently he has a fighter spirit because he managed to make it even though the med witches at Mungo's said he wouldn't. He reminds me of you sometimes, you know. Especially when he got older and started school. He has your love for mischief and your smile"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For asking if he was mine. I knew already, even though it still took awhile. I just needed to confirm and I'm really not certain about anything anymore."

"I think I can understand that." She was a little irritated that he hadn't apologized for what he did over a decade ago, but she supposed it was probably wrong to ask him to. She stood up off the bed and walked towards the door.

"I'll bring James and Lily in to see you," she said as she left, not looking back at him.

* * *


	3. Photograph

Author Notes: I'm still working on getting beta versions of this story up. Untill then, feel free to comment if you find any mistakes that need corrected.

For those wondering about _A Sorta Fairytale_, I am still working on it. I'm just having some trouble getting it translated from brain to paper.

* * *

June 1996 

After everyone was doing whatever they planned for the evening, James decided to investigate the house. After all, it was his family home for generations; he wanted to get to know the people that had driven his parents to leave home and everything behind. He decided to start in the room he'd be staying in.

The room he had been given to sleep in belonged to his Uncle Regulus. He knew that much from the fact that the walls were decorated in Slytherin colors and there were still things scattered around the room as if it hadn't been touched except for a quick cleaning to keep the dust at bay since the day Regulus had died. Old school books, clothes, even posters still remained. The closet was still filled with school uniforms.

At the end of the four-poster bed was a chest. Inside were the normal things one would find, blanket sets, pillow cases. However while investigating the chest; James made an even bigger discovery. A series of floorboards rose when he hit it trying to keep a hold on where he was standing while leaning to find out what was at the bottom of the chest. He paused in his search to look at the floor boards. The chest had covered them up normally, but since he moved it to have more room to search, they had been uncovered. Under the floor boards was a collection of artifacts (if that was what you would call them) that one would not expect to find in a pure blood boy's bedroom. There were a couple of books by muggle authors (in particular The Dead Zone and Jonathon Livingston Seagull), some comic books, a wooden box with some muggle money, a record player and a few Beatles and Rolling Stone albums, a couple hardbound notebooks and one photo album.

Jamie picked up the photo album first, opening it to find various pictures of Regulus and others. There were quite a few of him and Sirius. Some had slightly burned edges which made James wonder if perhaps his grandmother had decided to wipe all pieces of Sirius from the house and Regulus had rescued some. He knew that if his mother had ever been that mad at Zara, he'd probably do the same thing.

He did start to notice that the pictures were in chronological order. The book wasn't that big, so there were only so many pictures. There was enough however to get a picture of his parent's childhood. Athena was in a lot of the pictures, usually with James and Sirius and later Remus.

Towards the back of the book was a page with a single picture. It was Muggle in nature which surprised him, given the location. It looked like the Great Hall from Hogwarts, with Gryffindor Banners hanging around in the background. The focus of the picture was a group of friends though, sitting at a table in front of the banners. It must have been cold outside as they all were wearing winter clothes. He could recognize most of the people in the picture, even though he knew them as much older then they were there. His parents sat next to each other to the left, his mother slightly leaning on his father with her arm around his shoulder, paying attention to whatever James was saying. They were both smiling and looked like they were laughing. Beside Sirius were James and Lily, both looking extremely happy. James was clearly telling the story. Too bad it was a muggle picture or Jamie would have tried to read what he was saying. In front of that group sat Remus Lupin, and a blond-haired boy he didn't recognize. No, that was wrong. He did recognize the boy, but he didn't know the name. His mother would never identify him when they would be looking at pictures at home (which was rare, mostly it was done with Lily and James who also ignored the presence of this boy).

Below the picture in a silver script was _'The Marauders and Friends – June 1977'_. He ran his fingers over the words. The writing wasn't his mothers, nor James and Lily's. He turned the page but before he could get a good look at the picture and its description a voice caught him of guard.

"What's that?" He looked up to see his father leaning in the doorway. He looked a little more presentable then earlier that day, but he still looked weak and a little worn down.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" When James and Lily had left him an hour before after a few hours of talking they had said he had looked really tired.

"Couldn't stand not moving around. I was going to go downstairs when I noticed you looking at that," he said pointing to the photo album. "You left the door open." Sirius walked in and sat on the floor next to him, slowly as he was still not as great as he would like people to believe.

He then noticed the pile of muggle items that James had put aside. Curious he looked at them.

"Are these yours?"

"No, I found them under the flooring here," he responded with a motion towards the open storage area. "I figured that they were either yours or Uncle Regulus hid them for you are they were his."

"Well, I'm relatively sure they aren't mine. I'd ask your mother." Sirius found it odd they were there at all. Even if they somehow ended up being Athena's he couldn't see Regulus saving it. The pictures were one thing, Regulus was always a bit sentimental, but he wouldn't have saved albums and books.

Deciding to think about it later he switched his attention over to the photo album and was surprised once again. There was a picture from the last week of school. They were all outside by the lake. James, Remus, Peter and Sirius were playing around towards the right of the picture with a snitch. Lily and Athena were on the other side talking. It was a Wizzarding photograph, so every so often he could see Athena and Lily turn their head and glance at the Marauders with a smile. It was the day after his relationship with Athena had changed and about two weeks before Lily and James had announced their engagement.

He didn't know who had taken it or how it had ended up in my brother's procession. At the moment he was just remembering the moments around that photograph.

* * *

_June 1977_

Sirius awoke the next morning with a very healthy headache. Groaning, he moved over so he wasn't quite falling off the bed, only to find his way blocked by another body. He curled up around it, deciding to let it go. He often had girls in his bed, maybe not so many this past year, but still enough that it wasn't a new experience.

Without opening his eyes (damn sunlight), he tried to figure out who he'd brought back this time. Whoever she was had long hair, it was everywhere. Smelled like lilacs and had really soft skin. He risked an eye and opened it to look at her. Blond hair. Blond hair that smelled like lilacs.

Oh, God Athena. How the hell did he get Athena in bed with him? Oh, right. He was her 'ruiner'. Gee, didn't that sound lovely. He let the gentlemen come out and beat the bloody crap out of the other voice. He tensed when she made a sound and shuffled in her sleep, bringing her closer to him.

He had to admit, bad reasoning aside, that there was something natural about this. Like she was supposed to be there, like she belonged there. He sat up a little and brushed her hair off her face. She looked peaceful, like she had no worries. And the necklace was gone. He kissed her collar bone.

"Sirius, what are you doing," she mumbled half asleep. Her eyes hadn't opened so he wondered how she knew it was him, since he hadn't figured it out right away.

"Kissing you. How'd you know it was me?"

"Pine. You're the only guy I know who regularly smells like the woods." She smiled and opened her eyes. "And I took a potion yesterday to overcome the hangover. I must have forgotten to give you some."

She leaned up and kissed him on the side of the mouth before fall back on the bed and wiggling her way back to comfortable.

"Sorry. What time is it?" He smiled at her. They could sleep in today so she wasn't worried about classes.

"I really don't care. I'm not getting out of bed till this headache goes away."

"Poor baby."

"Nice hair." She reached up at that commented and felt her bed hair. It was everywhere.

"Your fault, and your hair isn't exactly perfect, Mr. Suave."

"You're very cheerful today."

"Again, hangover potion before hand. And notice I'm not killing you. I didn't even have to write the bloody note."

"You say that now, but if you hadn't, I'd be dead and you'd be calling Lily up here to help you dispose of the body."

* * *

They arrived at the Seventh Year special breakfast where only the seventh years and some of the professors dined. This was one of the special things happening during their last week of schooling. A special late breakfast time was wonderful. Plus they all sat at one table so house sorting was suspended. Athena sat between Lily and Remus while Sirius, James and Peter took the other side. They took up the end of the table closest to the doors. 

Things were good till Adrian Kovac appeared. The Hufflepuff seeker had been interested in Athena for awhile now, but it seems now that officially she was available, he had finally gotten up the courage to ask her. That was not the bad part. The bad part was that Athena had said _yes_.

James and Lily said nothing of it, despite that both were a little stunned. James noted the hurt expression that Sirius quickly covered up. Remus and Peter, having come back to the boy's dorm last night knew what had happened between Sirius and Athena watched with shocked expressions. Athena seemed to be oblivious to everyone else's response.

Later, after breakfast was over and the Marauders left to go play near the lake, Lily took Athena aside.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you going out with Adrian? I thought you were with Sirius."

"First of all, I'm not _with _Sirius. Not in any official capacity anyway and we both agreed it would be just a one time thing, although how you know about it I don't know."

"James thought you two would get together by the end of the year. Said something had changed between you at New Years."

"I'm not sure what James means." Lily sighed. She knew Athena was lying but she also knew now was not the time to push it.

* * *

Sirius wasn't sure who he was more annoyed at, Athena or himself. He knew she hadn't expected an actual relationship beyond what they already had. Usually he didn't go for long term relationships anyway, but somehow that morning he had wanted one. 

He wasn't in love with her, not in the way you'd expect. He loved her as a friend, one of his best friends really. Perhaps it was better this way. They wouldn't go down that road and end up ruining their friendship when eventually they ended it.

But it still hurt that they didn't even talk about how they were going to deal with what they had done. Not even a 'this is just a random thing' speech from either one of them. James kept giving him looks, as if asking if he was ok, which he was. He was ok, and they would be ok. James believed in that romantic stuff that they had long ago stopped believing in. Fate, destiny what-not. Athena in particular didn't believe in that. She believed there were too many factors to control to have a destined fate. Not to say she didn't believe in love, she did. She just didn't think it was all the roses that everyone seemed to think it was.

It didn't matter much anyway. The night, a dozen death eaters attempted to attack Hogsmeade. The Marauders, Athena, and Adrian had all been apart of the battle. At the end, Adrian died and everyone at least had one minor injury. James and Peter had been hurt the most, but luckily medical help arrived soon. That was what cemented Athena's desire to become a medi-witch and his own to become an Auror.

* * *

"You know, I remember that picture." Both Jamie and Sirius looked up to see Athena standing behind them with a look of contemplation. "Regulus took it. He was experimenting with various cameras. He told me he took it afterwards." She sat down on the floor in front of them and got a closer look at the photograph. "It was our last week at Hogwarts, wasn't it?" 

"Yeah. Right before the whole Hogsmeade incident." Jamie raised an eyebrow in confusion as both his parent's faces turned sad at that moment. Neither seemed to catch it as no explanation came forth. So he just turned the page.


End file.
